Who we are
Kugb (“Kugb”, “we”) provides the Kugb app and website. We’re responsible for the personal information described here. Questions go to support@kugb.social.
What we collect
What you give us
- Account details: your name, username, email address, password and, if you add it, phone number.
- Profile details: photo, bio, birth date, the country you’re from, where you live and where you’re heading, plus badges you choose to show.
- What you share: posts, questions, answers, comments, polls, stories, resources, photos, videos and reactions.
- Messages: direct and group messages, voice messages, and any photos, videos, documents or locations you send.
- Reports and support: what you tell us when you report something or contact us.
- Verification: if you verify your account for Kugb+, your phone number and the ID you submit. Your ID documents stay with our verification provider, and we keep only the result and a reference.
What we collect as you use Kugb
- Location: if you allow it, your device’s location. We use it to work out your general area, and we don’t store your exact coordinates or share them on the map.
- Activity: what you view, like, save, share and search for, and who you connect with, follow or block.
- Ads: which ads you see, tap or hide.
- Device details: device type, app version, language, IP address, and diagnostic and crash information.
What we get from others
- Basic account details from Apple or Google if you sign in with them.
- Your subscription status from the App Store or Google Play. They handle your payment, and we never see your card details.
- Things other people post or send that mention you.
Device permissions
Kugb asks before using your location, camera, photos or microphone. The microphone is only used while you hold the mic button to record a voice message. You can change these permissions in your device settings at any time.
Sensitive information
The country you’re from, your plans to move and what you post can reveal sensitive things about you, such as your ethnic origin, religion or immigration situation. You decide what to share, and we ask you not to post more than you’re comfortable with. We use this information to run the features you choose, not to target ads.
How we use it
- To run Kugb: create your account, show your feed, deliver messages and show resources for where you live.
- To personalise it: rank your feed and suggest people, spaces and resources, based on things like where you’re from, where you live and what you interact with.
- To keep people safe: check reports, prevent scams, spam and abuse, and enforce our Community guidelines.
- To show ads: see “Ads” below.
- To provide Kugb+: manage your subscription, verification and features.
- To improve Kugb: fix problems and understand which features people use.
- To talk to you: send notifications you’ve allowed, security messages and replies to your questions.
- To meet legal duties: comply with the law and respond to valid legal requests.
Where the law requires a legal basis, we rely on our contract with you, your consent (for device location, for example), our legitimate interests in running a safe and useful service, and our legal obligations. You can withdraw consent at any time.
Who can see what
- Your profile: your name, username and photo can be seen by other people on Kugb. Your personal profile is for the people you know. A contributor profile is public.
- Your posts: depends on the audience you pick. Friends-only posts go to your connections. General posts and Q&A questions can be seen by others in your country.
- Your stories: shown for 24 hours to your connections or to everyone, as you choose.
- Your resources: public to Kugb users, and they stay up if you turn your contributor profile off, unless you remove them.
- Your location: others only ever see your general area on the map, and only if your settings allow it. In Settings → Privacy, choose everyone, your connections or the connections you pick, or turn on Ghost mode to hide it from everyone. A place you choose to share in a chat or story is seen exactly as you shared it.
- Your messages: seen by the people in the conversation. Messages aren’t end-to-end encrypted, so our systems process them, and our team may review a message if it’s reported or if we need to for safety or legal reasons. We don’t use your messages to target ads.
- Reports: people aren’t told who reported or flagged them.
Ads
Free accounts see sponsored posts in the Home feed, always marked “Sponsored”. Kugb+ shows about half as many, and the Ad-free add-on removes them. Ads aren’t shown in Q&A, chats, profiles or the Resource Hub.
We choose ads using your country, your city and the interests you’ve told us about, never the content of your messages. Advertisers don’t get your name or contact details. Tap ⋯ on any ad to see why it’s shown or to hide it.
We don’t sell your personal information.
Moving data across borders
Kugb is used around the world, so your information may be stored or processed outside the country you live in. When we do that, we use the safeguards the law requires, such as standard contractual clauses.
How long we keep it
- Your account: for as long as it’s open. Deactivating pauses your account and keeps your information so you can come back.
- Deleted content: removed from view straight away, then erased from our systems within 30 days.
- Stories: shown for 24 hours, then removed. We may hold expired stories for up to 7 days for support and safety.
- Deleted accounts: erased or anonymised within 30 days of deletion, and removed from backups within 90 days.
- Exceptions: we keep some records for longer when we must, such as billing records, reports and safety records, or information needed for a legal claim.
Your choices and rights
You can do a lot of this yourself in the app:
- Edit your details and profile in Settings → Your account.
- Control location, connection requests and blocked users in Settings → Privacy.
- Turn on Appear offline to hide when you’re active.
- Deactivate or delete your account at the bottom of Settings → Your account.
Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to access or get a copy of your information, correct it, delete it, limit or object to how we use it, and withdraw consent. To use these rights, email support@kugb.social. We may need to confirm it’s you first, and we won’t treat you differently for asking.
You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Security
We protect your information with measures such as encryption in transit, restricted staff access and activity logs. No service can promise perfect security, so use a strong, unique password. If a breach puts you at risk, we’ll tell you as the law requires.
Children
Kugb isn’t for anyone under 16. If we learn that someone younger has an account, we’ll close it and delete their information. If you think that’s happened, email support@kugb.social.
This website
kugb.social doesn’t use cookies, analytics or advertising trackers. Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs, including IP addresses, to run and protect the site.
Changes to this policy
If we make an important change, we’ll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect. The date at the top shows when this policy last changed.